dragonfly || d.m. [✔]

malfoy's dance lessons,

I was a bear and you were the swan -- I was slowly devouring you, even as we danced.
—

a r i a  s t u n n i n g s

As I walk into the classroom, I see that Draco is already there, sitting on the desk and fiddling with his rings.

As he sees me, he jumps off the desk as soon as he sees me, "I thought you were a chicken."

"No, I'm human, thank you," I reply.

And then his eyes are on my neck and he's stepping closer, "Please remove the hood, Stunnings."

I shake my head, "No."

He shrugs. His hands snake around my waist and pull me closer, his breath hitting my face. I feel his body press up against mine as he whispers, "Hands on my shoulders."

"O-okay," I breathe out somehow.

I look up into his grey tornado eyes and his stormy hair. Slowly, I notice things about him that I hadn't noticed before -- the blue sparks in his eyes, the way his hair glows slightly, his dimples, the crinkles under his eyes.

"Stop staring," he murmurs as he pulls me even closer. "Stunnings."

I am hardly breathing as we circle and I stumble with his swan-like moves. But his hand on my waist steadies me each time, making me feel like I'm flying, free, while his body makes me feel safe.

"But there's no music," I whisper.

"The voices in our heart who sing for us, are more beautiful than those of others, who sing for another," he tells me.

I can hardly breathe at this close proximity, his French cologne is invading my nose in a way quite unavoidable. I can almost taste him on the tip of my tongue as we circle the room.

And then it all goes wrong.

I trip on thin air, and fall on top of him, and as I stare at his chest, I do not feel a shadow over my eyes. He stares at me and as I feel his hand stretch out to caress my hair, I know I messed up. That hood was not supposed to fall off, least of all in front of him.

 "El?" he whispers. "Libelle?"

"Uh-"

He is still staring at me as if I'm his sun, his moon, his everything. I squirm under his gaze and suddenly he laughs. "Dragonfly," he said.

Realization hits me. The tattoo. The dragon. The dragonfly, it all makes sense.

'Libelle' translates to dragonfly in German. 

"You remembered me all along?"

"You have no idea for how long. You have no idea how long I've been waiting. But then again, you shouldn't. Because that makes me seem so weak and desperate," he gave a nervous smile. "Okay, I should stop talking. Yeah," he takes a deep breath.

I laugh at his antics because I never thought I would see Draco Malfoy nervous and in front of me. "I've thought about you too, a lot, quite a lot."

And I'm not lying, I have. 

"Then why did you leave? Why did you leave that night?" he asks me, betrayal flashing through his eyes.

"It was getting a unbearable to stay in a little village who's people only talk of how your brother is in prison and refuse to believe that it's not true that he-" I stop and I can't talk any further.

In fact, I realize I can hardly breathe. I try to breathe, to survive the problems this world has thrown towards me, but I cannot. I stare up at the sky, trying to seem stronger than I am. But as I look at the silver-haired, scar-faced girl in the window, I realize that I cannot. 

There's a limit to strength, but apparently, there is no limit to the number of problems humanity can create for humans. And really, that's pathetic. I am pathetic.

I notice the thin, ringed fingers of Draco upon my back. He's making circles with them, and he's looking up at the sky like he can't see my tears, my weakness. 

"Okay, yeah," I breathe out somehow. "I'm fine, you can go," I tell him.

"I think I'll stay," he replies.

He continues drawing circles on my back for sometime and then removes his hand. I immediately miss the touch of his hand against my robes and hair, but do not tell him anything. He stares at me for sometime, before getting up. 

"See you at the dorm tonight, Dragonfly," he tells me. As the word slips out of his mouth and floats into the night air, I feel something in my stomach -- butterflies.

I watch as the butterflies follow the word and him out, thinking my own thoughts and knowing that my brother might be looking up from his cell and up to the same sky tonight too.